Northbridge Plaza raid: Police hunt for two people

Australian fugitive: 'I sleep with a clear conscience'

On the run from the FBI, Bruce Sholtz Maced says he had nothing to do with the car crash which left two men dead in Florida.

Facing dual manslaughter charges and two decades behind bars, Bruce Sholtz Macedo fled the US on a fake passport and has been in hiding ever since. His escape from justice follows a 2008 car crash in which he allegedly killed two men and left a woman seriously injured while drink-driving in Florida.

With an Interpol "red notice" next to his name and the FBI continuing to "seek information" about his whereabouts, Macedo has been found by Fairfax Media, living in Minas Gerais, a south-eastern state of Brazil – where he owns a store that sells fish tanks and marine livestock.

Speaking publicly for the first time, Macedo said he has "absolutely no regrets" about his dramatic escape to Brazil where, armed with citizenship, he is safe from extradition.

"I don't remember the crash, I don't even recall getting in the car but I'm certain I wasn't behind the wheel," the 38-year-old claimed. "I got scared. I was looking at a minimum sentence of 22 years – so I bolted."

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In a message to US authorities that is sure to infuriate the families of the two crash victims, Macedo said there was "no chance" of him ever standing trial, declaring "pigs will fly before I go back to America".

Macedo has also revealed he still harbours an unlikely dream of returning "home" to Sydney's eastern suburbs, where his parents and siblings live. "I have everything I need within these boundaries. But I would love to go back and take a dip in Coogee, Bondi –or Maroubra where I used to surf."

Life lost: Charles De Souza was killed in the car that Macedo is accused of crashing while drunk.

Macedo was born in Sydney, raised in Paddington and attended Rainbow Street Public School and Catholic secondary school Marcellin College, both at Randwick, before later relocating to Brazil, from where his parents previously migrated.

After a further stint in Australia, he moved to the US in 2001 where he worked as a car salesman, in Palm Beach County, Florida.

Sydney life: Macedo, around 2000, while working as a driver for Sydney based commercial laundry firm Aladdin's.

On September 14, 2008, Macedo attended a celebration barbecue in honour of his good friend Charles De Souza. The "cookout" was hosted by Charles' brother Rodrigo De Souza. However, the day will forever be remembered for the carnage and tragedy that unfolded, after the party had finished.

In a sworn statement to police, Souza spoke of how Charles, Macedo and friends had arrived brandishing beers, and a bottle of vodka, which they consumed throughout the afternoon. After the party, he walked his guests outside and "observed Bruce Macedo get in the driver's seat" with friends Claudio Da Silva, Maria Nunes – and Charles – climbing into the passenger seats. Unbeknown to Souza, he would never see his brother alive again. A short time later, their Nissan Altima had smashed into a tree, killing Charles and Da Silva instantly. Nunes was rushed to the nearby hospital at Delray Beach – as was Macedo who had concussion, severe cervical injuries, a punctured lung and nine broken ribs.

Wanted man: The FBI has been chasing Bruce Sholtz Macedo since 2008 when he fled dual manslaughter charges.

But Macedo claims that seven years on, all he can still remember from the day are "flashes".

"We were in Boca Raton. There was a house on a lake. I was jumping out of a balcony into a big swimming pool. We were having fun ... drinking heavily. I then remember waking up in hospital and had no idea what had happened."

"I don't remember the crash." Macedo says he sleeps with a "clear conscience" that he didn't do anything wrong.

When asked how he could be so sure he was not driving when he still has "no recollection", he replied: "I can't say ... and that's exactly what I told the investigator when he asked me 'were you driving the car?'"

On the run: Australian fugitive Bruce Scholz Macedo enjoys a life of freedom in Brazil.

According to the official police report, Macedo's injuries were "consistent" with being seated in the driver's position – which was where the vehicle made initial contact with the tree. The surviving passenger, Nunes, backed Souza's statement and identified Macedo as having been behind the wheel. When toxicology tests confirmed his blood-alcohol level had been over the legal limit, the former Sydneysider was suddenly staring at two manslaughter charges and a third count of contributing to serious bodily injury.

"I didn't want to put my life in the hands of the jury so I decided it would be best to flee," Macedo says.

"I gave this dude my photograph, $2000, and he gave me a [fake] passport in the name of some guy called 'Gilberto'."

Macedo recounted his anxiety as he then devised a plan to bypass the nearby airport at Miami and instead chance his luck with departure from Daytona.

"The passport was really bad," he recalled. "It fooled the American officials but I ended up getting busted as soon as I stepped through Brazilian customs."

Following his arrest, he told them "the whole story ... the truth ... that I was facing charges for something I did not do ... that I would have spent ... my life stuck in a Florida jail so I left".

Of his life of freedom in South America, he said: "I'm an ultra-marathon runner. I have a business and a girlfriend but I would love to come back to Sydney one day. I'm a Tigers fan. I had my first job at the Easter Show. I get upset thinking about it ... but I cannot complain. I have everything."

Of the horror crash that will forever dog him, he said: "I think about it every day ... and I sleep with a clear conscience every night that I didn't do anything wrong."

A spokesman for the Miami FBI said that because the case involving Macedo remained an "open investigation", the department was unable to comment further.